6/30/2021 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly CONTRARY TO LAW." CRIMINAL CASE NO. MC09-12520 (Estafa) "That on or about the month of August 2008, in the City of Mandaluyong, Philippines, a place within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, the above-named accused, conspiring and confederating together and mutually helping and aiding one another with intent to defraud RANDY REDILLA, by means of deceit and false pretenses executed prior to or simultaneous with the commission of fraud, did, then and there willfully, unlawfully and feloniously pretend and falsely represent themselves to have the power, capacity, and qualifications to deploy complainant for employment in Italy as factory worker for a fee, in the amount of thirty[-]five thousand pesos (P35,000.00), and by means of other similar deceits, which representation the accused well knew was false and fraudulent, and was only made by them to induce said complainant to give and deliver and in fact, said complainant gave and delivered the total amount of P35,000.00, as payment for the alleged processing fee, but the accused, once in possession of the said amount, appropriated and converted the same to their own personal use and benefit without, however, deploying RANDY REDILLA [for] employment in Italy and despite repeated .demands, accused failed[,] refused and continue to fail and refuse to deploy him or return the above sum demanded and received, to the damage and prejudice of said RANDY REDILLA in the aforementioned amount. CONTRARY TO LAW."[4] The foregoing Informations were consolidated and during arraignment, accusedappellant Bautista pleaded not guilty.[5] Evidence of the Prosecution During trial, the prosecution presented the testimonies of Rowena G. Panganiban (Rowena), Randy Pajarillo (Randy), Rolando De Vera (Rolando) and Efren Dingle (Efren) (collectively, private complainants), although the partial testimony of Rowena was stricken off the record after she left for abroad and could no longer be cross-examined. [6] Randy, private complainant in Criminal Case No. MC09-12510, and one of the complainants in Criminal Case No. MC09-12517, testified that Randy met accusedappellant Bautista sometime in 2008, when the latter recruited him to work as a factory worker in Korea. Randy further testified that on September 1, 2008, he paid accusedappellant Bautista P50,000.00 for the processing fee, in exchange for which accusedappellant Bautista issued a receipt under the name of Baler Aurora Travel & Tours, Inc. [7] After his payment, Randy later learned that accused-appellant Bautista was arrested following an entrapment operation. Randy, along with other persons who were also recruited by accused-appellant Bautista, visited the latter in Camp Crame, but they https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/66754 7/20